Reports & Time Tracking

The difference between reports and time tracking reports? We explain the difference in this article!

Whenever we got shifts we need a tool that collects them and allows us to see how much work was done. For shifts in the schedule we use reports, for those using the time tracking we use the overview section of the time tracking "tracked times" and "work reports".

1. Reports
2. Time Tracking
3. Terminal App
4. Log

1. Reports

In the report section you'll find a filter mask for all shifts and assignments as well as absences. Choose a time frame and filter for employees and/or departments. What you'll see can be exported as a XLS or CSV file on the top right drop down menu "export". This section does also work for all locations at the same time, so please make sure to select the correct location / all locations in the navigation bar.

Assignments

Every assignment that was set in the schedule is listed in this segment. You may change the starting and/or ending time, if the user e.g. has shown up late or worked longer etc. This won't have an impact on the schedule but only for the export and the view in this section.

Another feature here is the attended button, so whenever a user hasn't shown up you can decline it.

On the right side of each assignment you'll find a little link to the log. The window that opens up here shows you all changes made for that particular assignment dating back a maximum of 2 months.

Absences

If you switch to the absence tab in the reports section you can filter for all absences made in a particular time frame. There are no further options in this section. But of course, they can be exported on the top right.

Time Tracking

Requirements and preparation

In order to be able using time tracking, you may need to upgrade your account. Contact us for more information or a trial version.

Our first version of the time tracking is kept quite simple but flexible. Workers can use it as a digital form of the attendance recorder and check-in and check-out in order to make available their net working time along with breaks. A digital terminal can be put on any browser running device, and the worker types in the personal pin in order to start, interrupt or end the time tracking.

The time tracking may be programmed to adjust timers to the schedule or predefined values.

Vocabulary:
To pin in = insert the pin successfully, dial into the terminal, NOT: log-in
Check-In = Start time tracking
Check-Out = End time tracking
Timer = A tracked time, captured or logged time, time booking/entry

Dashboard

The dashboard is the landing page for the time tracking feature of Staffomatic. The two blue links open terminal and create pin will be explained later. Below the sub-navigation bar you find your personal work reports that are actually linked to the work reports section where you can also see those of your employees.

Below is the tracked times per week overview with direct links to the individual timers. On the right column you will find all currently running timers, hence all the staff that is currently working. Before the dashboard really comes to live we need to make some settings.

Settings

Quick Breaks / Predefined Breaks:

Typically for cigarette breaks or lunch breaks you may define the typical length of these breaks. The advantage is that the user has to pin in and select the break only once. If the user doesn't know how long the break is gonna be, the user will still be able to pin in, start a break, and later pin in again and end the break.

Each break will be deducted from the total working hours.

Example: Check-In 10am, Check-Out 8pm, Break from 2-3pm. Total working hours 10 hrs, net working hours = 9.

You may also switch to inherit breaks from shifts. This only works when the connection from tracked time and shift in the schedule was successful (please see below). When the connection worked out, a break in a shift that was connected with the timer will be adapted in the latter.

Automatic adjustment of times to shifts:

If the connection between shift and timer was successful, you can decide in what range before the start of the shift and after the end of the shift the timer will be adjusted to the shift.

Example: The user checks in at 7:52am, shift starts at 8am, the adjustment time is set as 10 minutes. The timer will be changed to 8am. When the user checks in at 8:03 am, the timer will remain at 8:03 am.

The user checks out at 5:09 pm, shift end is at 5, again the adjustment is 10 minutes. Now the timer also is adjusted to 5 pm. If the user checks out at 4:59 or 5:11 pm, the timer will remain accordingly.

Round up/off tracked times:
If there hasn't been a connection between timer and shift, timers may also be rounded, e.g. if you only pay for full minutes, quarters or hours. If this option is set 0, the timer will be exactly on the second, 1 will round the total time on a minute, 5 on five minutes and so forth.

Time radius to connect tracked times with shifts:
This setting has an effect on all the above settings. The important moment for this setting is the time where the user checks in to work.

When somewhere in the set time frame around the check-in minute the system identifies an assignment of the user, the shift will be connected to the running timer. This allows a comparison between the assignment and the actually worked hours. It is important to note that only one assignment can be connected at a time. If you want to inherit breaks from the schedule, make sure to put them in the first shifts of the user.

Example: Assignment 8am - 4pm. Radius 120 minutes. Check-In at 9:36am = Distance to shift start 96 minutes < 120 minutes: The shift will be connected to the timer.

Reporting period for the work reports:

In this section you can set how the timers of a user shall be reported. You can make a separate setting for each user individually in their profile. When changing to the tab "work reports" later all timers in the period will be summed up.
Example: Weekly setting on Wednesday. All timers that start on that Wednesday until the following Tuesday 23:59 will be summed up.

Permission: Usage without PIN:
When staff should be enabled to use time tracking without PIN on their smartphones, you can select "all". This way the login data of employees will also work for the terminal app, but they will only be able to stop their own work timers. Admins unfortunately cannot use this function, for them it only works with Pin (see below). 

When admins & managers are selected, staff with one department in common of the manager who activated a terminal will be able to use their pin there to start stopwatching their work time.

Pin

For matching created timers from the recording software with a user profile in Staffomatic, each user will need a personal 5-digit Pin.

1. Either each user logs in to their Staffomatic profile and create a pin there by klicking on the time tracking tab and "create PIN" or
2. An admin or manager moves to the employee's profile and creates one for them or
3. The admin or manager creates one for him/herself in the time tracking section.

The pin will be forwarded to the user's e-mail address. Make sure not to forget the pin. The pin is generated randomly and cannot be chosen in detail.

Terminal

The terminal is a separate app available in the browser, on iOS and Google Play Store. The terminal is actually the digital machine where employees go to in order to check-in or out from work.

Set Up:

Only admins and managers can set sharp a terminal, so you need to decide where to place it. You can have multiple ones activated by the same admin. You may allow employees to use the terminal on their computer, mobile phone, or run it only on the cashpoint system, on a tablet in the entrance... Many set ups are possible. It is important to know, that unless a device is not updated, the login will be saved and can be used even if the device gets restarted. The login data can't be used to login to your Staffomatic.

Open Terminal:

Move to the time tracking section in your staffomatic and find the link "open terminal". This is a separate window which you can bookmark in the quick start list of your browser or place it on your desktop or your desk / on your phones home screen.

Alternatively look for Staffomatic terminal (blue design) in the Apple app store or Google play store and download the app to your device.

Set sharp:

First, you need to set sharp each terminal.

IMPORTANT: DO ONLY USE ADMIN OR MANAGER LOG-IN DETAILS IN ORDER TO LOG-IN TO / SET SHARP THE TERMINAL

The log-in details are the same as for your admin/manager Staffomatic profile. As soon as your details have been accepted (you will see a selector keys field), make sure that on every device out of your reach your Staffomatic account is logged out.

Use the terminal:

The user comes to work and opens the terminal. He will see a selector keys field.

If the user doesn't see this, contact an admin or manager in order to set sharp the terminal. Do not try to login.

The user enters is five secret digits and confirms on the bottom right.

Each time the user enters the code or does anything in the terminal, there are five seconds do another thing. If the time runs up, the terminal falls back to the selector keys field.

On the next screen, there are three options:

1. Start time tracking
2. Choosing another language (only for this particular user)
3. Cancel (immediate fall back)

The user starts to work and the admin can now see in the time tracking section of staffomatic, that there is a running timer.

The next time the user enters the code, there are more options:

1. End time tracking (the timer will be completed, summarized and is now available for verification by an admin)
2. Start a break (undefined break, when coming back to work the user needs to pin in again and actively stop the break)
3. Predefined breaks (those are the breaks that were put in the settings; the timer will continue as soon as the predefined break time has come to an end)
4. Choosing another language (only for this particular user)
5. Cancel (immediate fall back)

Analyzing and correcting timers

You can see in the dashboard all the timers that are currently running. You can stop them right there, if you know that an employee has left but the timer keeps running. For such a situation as well as many other incidents that may occur, it is recommendable to find regulations and communicate them well.

If you want to adjust a timer, there are basically two ways.

Tracked Times:

Klick on one of the timers in the "Tracked times of last week" section or use the link tracked times in the dashboard. The latter then requires to set the filter accordingly and to klick on the little loupe or the timing that is displayed as a link.

Now, you can see the target hours when a shift has been connected to the timer, you can see all details including breaks on the left column and the log expandable on the bottom.

On the top you may delete or edit the timer, like starting time, ending time or the connected shift.

By klicking the X on the top right you will be returned to the tracked times overview.

Here you can verify a timer by checking it up. This function is only important when using work time accounts, otherwise you can use it e.g. as a reminder that you've checked that everything is alright with the timer.

The "Creator" of the timer is always the person who actually created a timer manually or whose login of a terminal was used by the employee to check in.

You can also quick edit the timer by klicking the little pen or quick access the log by klicking the "i" for information. Breaks and connections can only be edited in the detailed view of the shift.

Create Timer:

In the same section (tracked times) is a blue button on the top allowing you to create a timer manually, if e.g. an employee forgot to check-in. This feature automatically looks for shifts that are nearby and allows you to connect the timer right away.

Work Reports:

This section sums up all timers per user per month or per week. You can set in the settings the time period that is used as a standard setting. If you want to change it by person you can do so in each user's profile.

You need overtime hours and want to calculate also absences?

Klick the chat button and ask for work time account. This feature automatically alligns timers or shifts with vacation and holidays and allows you to manage overtime hours of each user according to preset target hours.